Apistogramma Growout

[Desktop Aquatics]

So basic question probably. Can you grow out multiple species of apistogramma in the same 40 breeder? Like 3 different species that were all progressing at the same time or is it better to grow them out separately 

[BriannesFishFam]

I would think they'd be fine. But I would listen to someone that has tried this before. What species are they?

[Tihshho]

Rearing the fry together is not a problem. The issue is going to be separating them later and making sure you're getting the right females out. Young females tend to look so similar from different species and if you plan to sell them or give them away it's best to not be letting go of mismatched pairs as to not hybridize them for those who want a pure line.

[Desktop Aquatics]

On 8/31/2021 at 4:40 PM, Tihshho said:

Rearing the fry together is not a problem. The issue is going to be separating them later and making sure you're getting the right females out. Young females tend to look so similar from different species and if you plan to sell them or give them away it's best to not be letting go of mismatched pairs as to not hybridize them for those who want a pure line.

That is what I was worried about I’ll probably just do smaller grow out tanks then, just trying to plan out my new rack I’ll be working on when Im moved. I’m just trying to fool proof this system before building it in 6 months.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Kylec

[Tihshho]

It's a little bit more costly, but if you WANT to conserve space the best thing is to find an area in the fish room and put a long and shallow tank and raise fry up in Ziss breeder boxes. Once the fry are large enough to need the additional space and then move them. Cichlid fry grow fast, so say having a 20L with 4-5 Ziss breeder boxes in there means you can keep 4-5 clutches and by the time they are ready to move into say a 10G for further growth you more than likely can clear out a 10G of previous spawns. The major kicker to this solution is the cost being that Ziss breeders are about $35 and for that you could have around three 10G (if you get the dollar per gallon sale tanks), but at the same time you then are stuck with a 10G of fry and have to pick and choose what goes into them. Also, if one spawn has an issue that needs meds you're going to have to medicate everyone.

What I'm going to say next is going to be slightly confusing later on, but bear with me. One thing I will say is you need to oversize your fishroom as much and as safely (not just space to maneuver, but also not to overload power unless you're adding new circuits) as to always have empty tanks. By over size I mean Figure out how many projects you want to have and from there add maybe 1/3 of additional tanks. If you plan on breeding not having enough tanks is going to hurt. That said, never stock your fishroom with more species than you can reasonably handle. Some species you can mix the fry, others you can't. If you're working with some simple Ancistrus, non picky Cory's, and say Apistos, as long as you keep up with water changes and have adequate filtration you can rear babies of all three in the same tank. What I wouldn't do is have three different Apisto species and once the babies are around the same size mix them based on what I explained earlier.

Another thing to consider, we all will break the rule I stated above. Either you find something at a club meeting/auction, or a species you've been dying for comes up and you have to have them. That messes up the whole nuance of balance. But at this point you're going to have to make a call on either letting some spawns go and leave them with the parent or just let nature take its course in order to open up rearing space, or you're going to have to thin out projects.

Remember when I said things are going to get confusing later on? Well, here is the confusing part. I've done it in the past and I'm speaking from experience here. Don't build a fishroom bigger than you can handle. It's better to scope things slightly to small (even with planned oversizing for unexpected reasons) and expand, but if you have a 20' x 20' room don't line the wall with 10's and 20's even though it's simple, semi affordable, and a dream to do. What you're going to run into, especially if you're doing this solo and it's not your day job, is that you're going to have some tanks that get more attention than others or you're going to be cutting corners to keep everything on an equal level, but not have the time available to do what you need to when raising fry or focusing on tedious breeding projects. If you're part of a club, lots of the fun fish will always be available. If you're looking for oddball stuff, realize that those are going to take a bit more effort and 15 tanks of those niche projects are going to probably take more time than say 30 tanks of livebearers. 

Hope some of this helps and sorry for rambling.

[Desktop Aquatics]

Thank you @Tihshho! All of this is extremely valuable! Currently yes I have one tank that I maintain and could easily handle more. My expansion for when I move isn’t a room just yet 😂. I’ll have a dedicated office and will have enough for a rack but not a room by any means. Probably like 4-9 tanks depending on configurations I decide to go with. My goal is to be rotating species on the rack and keeping my desk for my “display” fish. Not breeding for profit just to help maintain my hobby and get some notches on the good ole breeding belt. 
 

so my main thought was to have 4-6 tanks for pairs/(other fish maybe not for breeding) and then a row for growouts. Definitely not trying to become over burden by my hobby just yet. Thinking mostly small tanks with the larger grow outs but with what you have told me maybe small tanks it is. But thanks you a lot will be asking more questions as I finalize plans and thoughts!

[Tihshho]

Also, protip, don't setup a rack far away from a water and drain source. You may think you want to carry buckets, but I can tell you it's going to get old fast, haha.